Noleen Jordan

NORFOLK tells a story that has particular resonance in Australia at present - asylum seekers arriving by boat. The substance of the story is covered by the blurb, but in essence, desperate people quickly overwhelm the idyllic community, and government responses are heavy handed enough to cause revolt. From the early arrivals, and the positive responses of the local people, the plot proceeds in a very straight-forward manner to the difficult situation described.

Along the way a lot of characters are introduced, and expanded well enough to allow readers to follow and stay up to speed with who is who. The idea behind this novel is really believable, but unfortunately, for this reader, some of the execution of elements feel very understated. Large portions of the book read as reportage as opposed to fiction, spelling out facts without injecting emotion, or providing a lot that the reader can connect with or "participate in". Perhaps because of the style adopted, that lack of emotional seems to be reflected in the actions of participants in the end. Which kind of doesn't gell with the sorts of life and death struggles that are underway. 

There’s not a lot of crime fiction around, unfortunately, for readers who prefer a heist / non-death scenario, but SHWEDAGON is one that delivers exactly that. Author Noleen Jordan’s taken an unusual approach with this novel and, in the main, come up with something that’s engaging, and a bit of a romp.

It’s unusual not just because this is a heist novel, but also because the heister is sixty-year-old Australian photographer, thrill seeker and jewel thief Hannah Nolan. Can’t tell you how amused I was by the central concept of this novel. Nolan has an underground history of daring heists and jewel thefts, mostly right under the nose of her police detective husband as they gad about the countryside frequently leading touring groups of amateur photographers.

It’s no spoiler (in the blurb after all) to know that the target of this particular heist is the Shwedagon temple, and the diamond embedded in the roof. It’s this part of the novel that works particularly well as Jordan obviously knows her locations well, and she paints a great picture of the place, and the journey to reach it. Nolan as a character is interesting, obviously considered and thoughtful, just sometimes, she can come across as a little straight-laced, buttoned up maybe. Given the nature of the jobs that she’s pulling off it kind of makes sense, and yet somehow lurking underneath it’s just possible that she might be having fun doing all of this, but sometimes that’s not served well by the dialogue when it gets a little too formal.

But there’s nothing formal or forced about the plot and there’s some big, brave twists and turns in the resolution that you definitely don’t seem coming, a few of which had me laughing.

A self-published novel which is concise, without being overdone or over-egged, there’s a nice story arc in SHWEDAGON, a very interesting central protagonist and a nice break from murder and mayhem in crime fiction.

Courtesy of Noleen Jordan, I’ve got some copies of SHWEDAGON to give away - if you’d like to receive one in the post, please leave a comment below … I’ll let you know when they’ve all been claimed.